A 36 hour vacation

   This is a seriously overdue post that I could have gotten away with never writing. However, I enjoy documenting the crossing off of things from my "Japan to do list", and this trip took care of several items.
Back in October (told you this was overdue), Josh and I went on a very short vacation with a few friends. We took the first morning train from our station and met the others in Kobe to ride the JUMBO ferry to Takamatsu, Kagawa on Shikoku Island. This was the musical masterpiece we were privileged enough to listen to for a little too long. Our first stop was at an udon restaurant near Takamatsu station because if you want the best udon, well you have to get it in Kagawa. I'll be honest that udon is my least favorite Japanese noodle, but I ate every bite of my bowl in Kagawa.

From the jumbo ferry

   After lunch we were off to the most inaka area I've visited here, the town of Kotohiro, which is home to Konpira-san. I discovered what a Soapland is in this little town. There were beautiful decorations all over this building, called Soapland, to welcome it's opening... too bad it was a basically a brothel. We weren't there to hunt down brothels though, we were there to climb Konpira-san, which turned out to be no easy feat. To get to the main shrine, there are an easy 785 steps to climb. If you want to go to the back shrine, it's a mere 1,368 steps. It's really not a bad climb. The pathway is lined with stalls selling any kind of souvenir and a few drink stops along the way. The views are beautiful and about halfway up, there is a stable with horses. I'm not sure what significance they play, but who doesn't like horses on top of a mountain?

Sacred Horse?

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   The top is probably the best. We were so high up that we could see where rain was falling on other parts of the prefecture. There was a traditional wedding taking place and the bride was beautiful in her white kimono. And I'll never forget the little building that had birds darting in and out to grab seeds from our hand.

  Konpira-san was a lovely way to start our trip, and things really just picked up from there. We ended up at hole-in-the-wall izakaya, where the owner lovingly showed us into the back of her home as well as the garden her family has kept since the Meiji period. Experiences like that are what make my time here so worthwhile. We helped the Canadians in the group celebrate their Thanksgiving with delicious local Shikoku chicken while the regular costumers tried to convince us to come back the next day. After a mad dash to catch a train that turned out to be the wrong one, we made it back to Takamatsu to meet a friend of a friend. This guy turned out to be one of most interesting people I've met here, and really dispels the stereotype that all Japanese are conforming office-workers. He had no problem showing off his chest tattoo in public and talked about conspiracy theories and the UFO he saw. After izakaya #2, the friend of a friend dropped us off at our hotel, a capsule onsen hotel to be exact. It was a little ghetto, but I really liked it a lot. It was our first time at a capsule hotel and one thing checked off our list. The girls and guys went our separate ways into the baths, and we had them all to ourselves. I thought it was a nice little onsen until we tried a bath that smelled exactly like instant chicken ramen soup. Our onsen night quickly ended after that. I'd like to say I slept like a baby, but every time my capsule shook I'd wake up thinking that the gigantic Nankai earthquake decided to strike the one time I visit the island it's supposed to hit the hardest.



  The next morning we took another ferry to the art island of Naoshima, where everything is potentially art. Our group rented bikes and spent the morning pedaling around this beautiful place that has so far been spared from becoming overly touristy. I was able to see more of the Kusama pumpkins, one of my main goals on the trip. I feel sorry for the artist's struggles with mental illness, but I love her sculptures.








   This trip was probably the most entertaining one I've had in Japan. I loved the people we traveled with, the food we ate, the new friends we made, and the countryside. For a few days, I wishfully thought of moving to the inaka, although I'm sure I'd go mad if I actually lived that far out from a major urban area. It was fun to visit and it was rewarding to cross Shikoku off our island list.